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You P.O.V.:

"You!" The old woman screamed, her fingers trembled and her whole body trembled.

"M-me?" If I'm going to be honest, I was easily  intimidated by her. "Sorry to intrude, but I was just passing through, trying to find my friend Sophie, and-"

"But I am-mphf!" The old woman seemed to have difficulty forming sentences and I thought she was suffocating, scratching her sealed mouth. "Ma'am? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She replied, apparently frustrated. Looking around, she sniffed, "This place is dangerous..."

Intrigued, I lowered the umbrella a little. "So this isn't your place?" I asked.

"Me? To live here? No way, look at the state of those shelves! Loose papers everywhere, dust accumulating in every corner and crevice of the house..." she murmured angry.

Laughing a little, I put the umbrella back on the floor, resting it on a paint chipped wall. "You remind me a lot of my friend. She hates dust with all her life too." I paused, taking another look at his face. "Say, you saw a girl my age wearing a straw hat, green dress and ... and ..." my eyes widened when I saw the same hat Sophie wears every day clinging to her right hand, the wrinkles of this woman's dress smoothed and ironed.

"But that," I began, shocked. "You are- I mean, wait-"

His eyes seemed to shine with hope. "You know me, right (Y/N)?"

'How is that possible?' I panicked. "How did this happen to you? Are you really you? I'm so confused, I-"

"I don't envy you, that's a bad curse," said a voice. I jumped, looking around me. "Who-?"

"Curses are difficult; you'll have a lot of difficulty getting rid of it." I turned to look at the old woman, whose eyes are wide open. I followed her gaze to the bright and burning fireplace. Taking a step closer and walking to him, I screamed and threw myself back when I saw that he had a face. "The ... fire spoke," she commented unbelieving.

"Let's ignore the fact that you have a face?" I cried.

"Let me guess, the curse doesn't allow you to talk about it, right?" The fire guessed, his attention turned to the old woman. I looked at her curved back, flaccid skin, but underneath all this, a kind friend I know. "Sophie?" I breathed. Her eyes shone and she hugged me tightly.

"And..." I looked at the orange and red flames. "Are you Howl?"

"No, I'm an extremely powerful fire demon named Calcifer!" He declared, growing a little in size while doing a show, shining stronger than ever. "I just like to do that from time to time," he added gently, making me laugh a little.

"Very marvellous," I smile, making him burn a little brighter with what seemed to be a flush. "I shouldn't be surprised. A door that leads to a magician's lair, my best friend turned into, well, that... a talking fire shouldn't scare me."

"Wait!" Called Sophie suddenly. "Since you're a fire demon, you should be able to break my curse, shouldn't you?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no," proclaimed the fire. "Listen, if you find a way to break the spell that is in me, then I will break the spell that is in you," he offered.

Sophie narrowed her eyes, "If you're a demon, how do we know we can trust you? Do you promise to help me if we help you?"

The fire seemed to shrug your shoulders with her question. "I don't know, ma'am. Demons don't make promises..."

Sophie sat in a chair in front of him. "Then go find someone else," she puffed, leaning on the chair.

"Come on, you should feel sorry for me! This stupid spell keeps me stuck in this castle and Howl treats me as if I were his slave! It burns me up. You have to keep the water hot, the rooms warm, keep the castle moving... "The fire gathered its burning hands and begged, buzzing nonstop.

"Mmh, that's hard," Sophie said, napping, her eyes flickering closed.

"Have you ever tried to move a castle?" He snorted in exasperation. Upon seeing that Sophie was obviously not paying attention, he sighed. I tried to touch Sophie to wake her up, but she was off like a light.

"Sorry," I apologised. "She is a very heavy sleeper."

"Hmm," he mumbled. "If one of you figures out  how to break this thing I'm I'm with Howl, I can easily break the spell that is on her," he negotiated.

I looked back at my friend's sleeping figure and sighed, smiling. "okay. It's a deal," I confirmed. He nodded, so he began to desperately try to wake Sophie up before giving up. I laughed before looking for a place to rest. When I turned to Calcifer, I realised that he was looking at me as if he were thinking deeply.

"Hi?" I asked nervously. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Nothing, everything is fine. You can sleep on the couch if you want," he said bluntly, returning to your trunk. "Oh, okay then."

I started in the direction of the dusty pillow, but I stopped. "Are you sure I don't..."

"Go to sleep, ma'am."

I shook my head and dusted the crimson sofa as best I could before I sat down. So much happened in two days.

I wish all this was just a dream

A/N

- helloooooooo another chapter for you all, hope you enjoyed it
Have a great morning/night❤️❤️

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